There was nothing she could do. With tears in her eyes, not knowing why she wanted to cry over a libertine getting to tup a beautiful woman, Julia fled.
***
JASPER WATCHED JULIAleave. The tightness in his chest eased, knowing she was safe, and then he turned to the conniving female who had an expression of a cat licking cream.
“I’m leaving, too,” he said.
“Don’t be foolish, Marshfield. Just because I gave her the calling cards doesn’t mean I won’t go to the authorities.”
“I know. But tonight is inconvenient. I am expected elsewhere. I only stopped by briefly out of curiosity. Now that I know this will be a longer visit, I will have to postpone to another time.”
She paused. “I suppose I’ve waited this long. You will make it worth my while, I’m sure.” Then she shook her head. “So, you really care for this country girl?”
He wasn’t about to discuss Julia Sudbury with her or anyone. He was still digesting the knowledge she hadn’t was a habitual thief. He’d guessed as much since discovering her in Lady Daphne’s room holding the bracelet, but he hadn’t believed it.
Without further delay and with no niceties of gracious departure, Jasper strode from the room. Not waiting for the Chandrons’ butler, he threw open the front door and, feeling dangerously tweaguey, left it wide open to the elements.
His carriage was waiting out front, but as he put his foot on the bar to alight, he looked down the street. There was Miss Sudbury, ambling along.
Annoyed at the very sight of her, he had his driver pull up beside the brat nevertheless.
“What the devil?” he asked.
“I came by hired carriage. I didn’t want to use my sister’s again, nor tell her where I was going. But my hackney seems to have vanished.”
“You should never pay them until the end of your journey,” he snapped irritably. No one from Town would ever make such a mistake. “We might as well travel together in my carriage.”
“My reputation,” she reminded him.
“I don’t think a carriage ride can make anything worse, and we must speak privately.”
She let him help her into the two-seater carriage, and as she leaned back against the squabs, he realized she was shaking.
Sitting beside her, Jasper draped an arm around her shoulders.
“She’s as mad as a march hare!” Julia exclaimed after they set off.
“Nonsense. She’s quite sane.”
“But she said she didn’t care whether it was you or me.”
“Pleasure is pleasure,” he said, feeling weary. At least, he’d always thought that to be true. Now however, when faced with performing a service for the viscountess, one that ought to be pleasurable, he felt not a twinge of desire, nor even anticipation. What he felt was revulsion.
“Perhaps you’re correct,” he amended. “That woman has to be a little touched in the head not to care whether I want to participate.”
Silence met his words, then she said, “We could try blackmailing Lady Chandron in return.”
This caused Jasper to turn his head, bringing their faces close.
“I would say ‘continue with your plan,’ except I don’t think she has any shame, nor would she care about her reputation since everyone already knows about her many infidelities. She’s like a female rakehell,” he concluded. “Thus, she cannot be blackmailed. Even her husband already knows and cares not a whit.”
“We could toss her in the Thames,” Julia suggested with a bitter laugh.
“I’m not eager to dance on the end of a rope,” Jasper retorted.
“I suppose you could go to her and be absolutely offensive, unclean, disheveled, with bad breath and knotted hair, and try to put her off.”
“I could try,” Jasper said.
